Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchThe relentless rise of the mafia
Episode 2504
The 20th century saw the mafia go global. Crime groups, from Japan's Yakuza to southern Italy's Camorra, capitalised on political chaos and mass migr…
19 hours ago
Harriet Martineau: life of the week
Episode 2503
Thinker, feminist, sociologist, campaigner: 19th-century writer Harriet Martineau was a pioneer and a radical across a huge range of areas, but it's …
1 day, 19 hours ago
Sores, sweat and secretions: the pox in early modern London
Episode 2502
With sinful associations and incredibly painful symptoms, the pox could be a damning diagnosis in the early modern period. In this episode, Olivia We…
2 days, 19 hours ago
Elizabeth’s enemies: plots, rivals and the Spanish Armada
Episode 2501
Elizabeth I’s reign was defined by constant threat, both at home and abroad. In this third episode of our four-part Sunday Series on the Tudor monarc…
3 days, 19 hours ago
Britain and the looted African gold
Episode 2500
In the 1870s, British troops invaded the African kingdom of Asante, razed its capital, prowled its palace and plundered its exquisite golden treasure…
5 days, 19 hours ago
The devastating Jewish revolt against the Roman empire
Episode 2499
It was under the rule of the infamous emperor Nero that the Great Revolt, the first of the Jewish-Roman wars, began, sparking many decades of continu…
1 week ago
Culture and conflict: a historical tour of Dublin
Episode 2498
Ireland's capital may be famous today for its nightlife and literature, but it has experienced more than its fair share of conflict and oppression al…
1 week, 1 day ago
How Rasputin helped doom the Romanovs
Episode 2497
The life of Grigori Rasputin, the Siberian peasant healer who wielded influence over the family of Russia’s last tsar, has fascinated the world for m…
1 week, 2 days ago
Elizabeth I: a woman in a man’s world
Episode 2496
By 1559, Elizabeth I had secured the crown – but holding on to power would prove far more challenging. In this second episode of our four-part Sunday…
1 week, 3 days ago
Life on the mean streets of 19th-century London
Episode 2495
What can Charlie Chaplin's life tell us about the experiences of poor working-class people in 19th- and early 20th-century London? Quite a lot, it tu…
1 week, 5 days ago